Intimidation

Threats Target Opponents of Post-9/11 Agenda

In the immediate aftermath of the 9/11/2001 attack,
the Bush administration made it clear dissent from the
War on Terror would not be tolerated.
In 2001 President Bush declared
“You're either with us, or you're with the terrorists.”
Then-Attorney General John Ashcroft announced:

To those who scare peace-loving people with phantoms of lost
liberty, my message is this: Your tactics only aid terrorists,
for they erode our national unity and diminish our resolve.
They give ammunition to America’s enemies ...
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Some influential figures in the news media and Congress
appeared to need no further persuasion.
Dan Rather, on the Late Show a week after the attack
praised the President, saying:

George Bush is the President.
He makes the decisions and...wherever he wants me to line up,
just tell me where.
2Â

Other figures who may not have been persuaded to "line up"
by the public pronouncements of administration officials
might have been persuaded to do so by other means:
threats from mysterious sources.

The Post-9/11/01 Anthrax Attacks

Several of the anthrax-containing letter envelopes

Starting one week and one month after the mass murder of 9/11/2001,
batches of letters containing weaponized anthrax
were sent to news network anchors offices and Democratic senators.
The first wave of letters arrived at the network offices
just as the networks were returning to normal programming,
and the second wave arrived at the Capitol building just
as Democratic Senate leaders Patrick Leahy and Tom Daschle
were attempting to subject the
USA PATRIOT Act
to meaningful legislative review.
3Â

In 2002, Attorney General John Ashcroft named Dr. Steven Hatfill,
a virologist and Army scientist, a "person of interest" in the case.
Hatfield sued the Justice Department and FBI,
charging that they invaded his privacy and destroyed his career.
In June of 2008, Hatfill won a settlement of $5.82 million.
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